The rings of centuries-old trees are offering scientists a more complete picture of climate change and the role of humans in causing it.
Trees, it seems, are giant organic recording devices that contain information about past climate, civilizations, ecosystems and even galactic events, much of it many thousands of years old.
In recent years, the techniques for extracting information from tree rings has been honed and expanded. New technologies and techniques are able to pry a much deeper and wider range of information out of trees.
Via The New York Times